Yosemite Hiking Stories???

[KZKlimber]

I'm heading to Yosemite in August and would like to hear your experiences there. My best hiking advice always comes from the VFTT community!

 

[TCD]

KZ,

Have a great trip! You'll still have to watch for thunderstorms, but you won't have to worry about surprise blizzards. My wife and my two trips out there have been in September, for dry weather and low brook water levels. Maybe someday I'll sightsee the wildflowers and waterfalls in May.

Search the boards here for a couple previous threads with tons of ideas. Someone (Grumpy, maybe?) was asking for ideas in advance of a Yosemite trip last year.

What I like in Yosemite is the long, easy to moderate mountaineering routes. The hiking is great too. Yosemite is not much of a destination for cragging. The valley has the big walls, but as a team we're not doing those. The shorter climbs are not really any better than NH or the Daks. Tuolomne is gorgeous, and the climbing is nice, but tends to be way run out, and the popular routes have polished up into sandbags. Tried Right Water Crack on Lembert Dome last year; 5.7PG turned out to be 5.9X.

Favorites:

Mountaineering:
On our two trips, the hands down favorite has been the NW ridge of Tenaya Peak. We climbed it on both trips. A short hike, then 15 pitches of continuously steepening friction/face. About 5 pitches are 4th class, then several easy ones, then the last two are close to vertical, about 5.6. Decent gear, finishes on a spectacular pointy summit, great walk off, short to medium day.

Hiking:
Clouds Rest; Mt. Hoffman; Mt Dana; Mt. Whitney (not in Yosemite, of course, but only about 3 1/2 hours drive, if you can get a permit.

Still on the tick list: Cathedral Peak, Laurel Mountain, North Ridge of Lone Pine Peak, Matthes Crest, North Ridge of Mt. Conness, and many more.

Have fun!

TCD

 

[poison ivy]

Ask me in another two weeks!

- Ivy

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Try to see both the valley and the high country if you can. We particularly enjoyed Cloud's Rest, Tenaya Lake, and Toulumne Meadows. We also really liked Mono Lake and Bodie Ghost Town, which aren't too far from the park's Tioga Road entrance. Some pictures/notes from our trip:

http://www.pbase.com/pudgy_groundhog/yosemite_2004

 

[king tut]

half dome

I did the half dome hike 3 weeks ago, you can search the trip reports for that one. I also did a 4 mile walk around the mariposa grove of big trees that was cool, giant sequoias. There is a hike from the valley up to the top of yosemite falls which looked real interesting, i would like to hear if anyone has done that one. my avatar is the top of half dome.

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

I did the half dome hike 3 weeks ago, you can search the trip reports for that one. I also did a 4 mile walk around the mariposa grove of big trees that was cool, giant sequoias. There is a hike from the valley up to the top of yosemite falls which looked real interesting, i would like to hear if anyone has done that one. my avatar is the top of half dome.

We did the Yosemite Falls hike. It was the first day of our backpacking trip (camped at North Dome the first night). It was only eight miles our first day, but a lot of elevation gain (hooray for switchbacks). We were there in May, so the falls were really roaring and the views at the top were great.

 

[MrAmeche]

KZKlimber, you have no idea how envious I am! You're going to love it. Yosemite Nat'l Park is the most gorgeous place on earth. I would definitely recommend the Half Dome, the area around Tenaya Lake is beautiful, Yosemite Falls (though the trail was super crowded when I was there), and Cloud's Rest were all highlights for me when I visited nearly three years ago (August 2002).

I'd love to hear about the trip when you get back.

 

[ADK4Life]

Ahhh going to be in California very very soon, hoping it will be less busy on a weekday.

 

[Shewolf]

I was just out there for a wedding in late April at the Yosemite Chapel. We had gorgeous weather for all but one day. Unfortunately, the Tioga Road was closed, as well as all trails above 6,000'. We did make it to the top of the Vernal and Nevada Falls as well as the Mariposa Grove where we viewed the fallen Tunnel Tree with 6 feet of snow around it. Wow! We ran out of time to get to hike Yosemite Falls.

Puggy_groundhog, were you there when they had the tremendous flooding?

king tut - Did they clean up the blowdown/debris on the trails around the Grove trails. When we were there, there was such devastation that they had the access road closed, but you could hike the 2 mile road to the grove and then the rest of the grove, if you chose to do so. The wooden railing around Giant Grizzly was smashed by fallen pines and branches from the sequoia.

 

[TCD]

We also hiked Yosemite Falls. We hiked it in September, so it was bone dry (I mean bone dry, just a dark water streak on the rock, not even a trickle of water). It was a fun hike, but without the drama of the falls, it wasn't really worth it. It was a long grind up a lot of well built switchbacks to a great lookout point, but that was it. You should decide based on how the falls looks.

I'm in love with Tuolomne and the high country. The Valley is spectacular and a mandatory visit to see it if you've never been there, but after a couple visits hiking and climbing in both the Valley and Tuolomne, I probably won't even visit the Valley next time. Unless I go in the Spring.

 

[king tut]

yea, the grove was in great shape, no signs of any damage at all. the only damage was from the intentional burnings that they had done to the smaller trees that were around the big sequoias.

 

[Dugan]

I spent a week at Yosemite several years ago - it was INCREDIBLE! I was awestruck every day by the huge scale in comparison to New England. I stayed mainly at Tuolomne Meadows, with one night each at Glen Aulin (awoke to bear tracks going through camp) and Vogelsang (saw a Golden Eagle). It's too bad the high sierra camps aren't opening this year.

Some of the things I liked best were the high meadows, sequoias, bristle cone pines... everything. Vogelsang was the highest peak I tried to get to. <sheepish> I chickened out after getting almost all the way there, I was spooked by the exposure.

We stopped at Mono Lake on the way in and out. I think there was a building with information about it? Also hiked a mountain just outside the Tioga Pass entrance. I don't remember the name. There was a defunct silver mine.

Bring lots of sunblock, drink lots of water, watch for problems with adjusting to elevation. Running and hiking became a challenge for the first time in years.

Enjoy!

 

[DougPaul]

yea, the grove was in great shape, no signs of any damage at all. the only damage was from the intentional burnings that they had done to the smaller trees that were around the big sequoias.

Just for the record, sequoia seedlings require fire to help them get ahead of the other vegetation. The mature sequoias are very fire resistant.

Doug

 

[Shewolf]

Oh, I figured I should give you one warning if you are going to be in the Valley. Be prepared to be stalked by the Douglas squirrels and jays. We were eating lunch at the top of Nevada falls, with not a soul around and we were suddenly flanked by three squirrels. These buggers are BOLD! There are signs everywhere about not feeding the wildlife, but obviously, not everyone takes the warning to heart and they are conditioned that people equals food. It reminded me of the chipmunks at the Loj campground.

If your goal was to see the Falls, you are going to be sorely disappointed. They are at their best in May. This May, from what I was told, was spectacular because they had an above normal snowfall in the spring.

My only wish, if I ever go back, is to be able to hike above 6,000' and visit Tuolomne Meadows, which I heard is a place you have to go. Ok, that's two wishes, but what the heck. I also reccomend going to the grove if you can. Not a challenging hike, but those trees are awe inspiring and worth the trip.

 

[Grumpy]

First of all, I want to (belatedly) thank all those VFTTers who responded to an earlier thread and clued me in as to what I might expect from a visit to Yosemite. Mrs. Grumpy and I had a most successful three-night stay there -- at Curry Village -- in mid June.

The waterfalls were absolutely spectacular. We’re told this year was exceptional insofar as water volume was concerned, and that we hit everything just right.

Rock and water and big trees. My old eyes bugged right out of my head, I’ll tell you. It’s all beyond words.

We did not do much hiking as this was largely a social reunion trip with friends we hadn’t seen for many years. We wound up doing a Yosemite Valley sampler. Most of our “hikes” were easy valley walks, like up to the base of Yosemite and Bridalveil Falls and to Mirror Lake. Lots of rubbernecking. Plenty of chit-chat and laughter. Great fun. We also did one slightly more ambitious hike up to Sentinel Dome. Got to see El Capitan, Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point, at sunset.

I’d go back at the drop of a hat.

G.

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Puggy_groundhog, were you there when they had the tremendous flooding?

We were there over Memorial Day last year and no flooding. They had some heavy rain/thunderstorms just before we arrived that gave the falls a little extra kick. We were lucky that when we were there Tioga road was already open and we were able to venture a little ways into the high country.

 

[Shewolf]

We were there over Memorial Day last year and no flooding. They had some heavy rain/thunderstorms just before we arrived that gave the falls a little extra kick. We were lucky that when we were there Tioga road was already open and we were able to venture a little ways into the high country.

Oh, I wrongly assumed you were there this past May. It had flooded so badly that the spot where we had taken wedding pictures, in the meadow across from the Chapel, only a few weeks prior to the flooding was under two feet of water in May.

While we were there, the falls were fantastic. However in May, due to the heavy spring snow, they were beyond spectacular from what I was told.

I am envious that you got to venture a little ways into the high country. That was the only disappointing thing about my visit. They had most of the trails above 4500' closed and all trails above 6,000 closed. Bummer!

 

[Raymond]

Next month marks the 20th anniversary of my visit to Yosemite. I went on a nine-day backpacking trip with a Sierra Club group. We started at Chiquito Campground in Sierra National Forest, southeast of the park, hiked over Merced Pass, Red Peak Pass (our high point, 11,300 feet), Post Peak Pass, and Fernandez Pass.

The weather was perfect the entire time, although I can recall seeing a lot of air pollution way off toward the west in the lowlands. There were 18 of us in our group. I had come the farthest, from Massachusetts. Otherwise, there were two women from Indiana (one of whom had makeup drip into her eye and cause us some concern one day) and everyone else was from California.

Unfortunately, I got a ride to the park from San Francisco with some of my fellow* hikers, so I never got to see Yosemite Valley. We did see the back side of Half Dome one day from the trail. We weren't very close, though. Liberty Cap was over there, too.

One layover day, three of us tried to climb Merced Peak, but our leader changed his mind (don't now remember why), so the best I could do was reach the ridge between Merced Peak and an unnamed 10,960-foot peak, to about 10,640 feet elevation. I remember being certain that the entire mountain was going to slough away at any moment the whole time I was there.

I didn't have any trouble at the altitude except every now and then suddenly needing to take a few deep breaths while I was lying in my tent.

At some point into the hike, one of the support pins for my pack broke. I was able to tie it to the frame, and it held, but then on the last day, the support on the other side broke, but in a way that I wasn't able to fix, so I had to walk the last couple miles to the trailhead with my arm held awkwardly behind me, holding up that side of the pack.


*Is it correct to refer to women as "fellow" hikers?

 

[Pucknuts61]

Just got back from Yosemite this weekend. The falls (Vernal, Nevada, and Yosemite) are all well above normal due to the snowfall and they look spectacular. The mist trail to Vernal was a relief from the heat and generally dry conditions.
Got to climb Half Dome again but there is trailwork being done so it is closed at the switchbacks and access to the cable stairway is limited to 12:00 (during the trail crews lunch) and 4:00. Weekends are not restricted.
El Capitan was crawling with rock climbers and we did see 1 crew setting up for the night on Half Dome.
Still plenty of snow above 10K and Tuolomne Meadows was closed to camping due to flooding but still looked great (might be open in a few weeks though)
Tioga road is opened and well worth the drive to see Tanaya Lake, Clouds Rest, Cathedral Peaks, and the back of the Dome.
Awesome views anywhere you go.
Enjoy!

 

[Shewolf]

Wow, the falls are still looking spectacular? I hope you enjoyed your great luck! What did you think about the mist trail? Enough steps for you? We hiked to Vernal and Nevada early enough that we missed any kind of crowds, but from what I've heard, those steps can get quite a crowd going both up and down...

Pucknuts61:
How crowded was the Valley?